A Killing Puts U.K. on Guard for Terror

Authorities are investigating whether the terrorists who allegedly killed a serving British soldier in a London street on Wednesday had connections to Nigeria. WSJ's Cassell Bryan-Low reports on the attack that U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has described as "sickening."

LONDON—The gruesome broad-daylight killing of a man believed to be a British soldier was quickly branded an act of terrorism by officials here, reviving fear of violence by Islamic extremists in a country that has spent years buttressing its defenses in the wake of past attacks.

The victim, who wasn't identified Wednesday, was hacked to death outside an army barracks in southeast London, police said. Police arriving on the scene shot two suspects, who survived and were taken to area hospitals.

ENLARGE

An amateur video showed a man with a knife and a cleaver after the attack.
ReutersTV/Reuters

Videos from witnesses quickly surfaced of a man with bloodied hands, apparently in the immediate aftermath of the incident, holding a large knife and a cleaver, and making antigovernment statements. "We swear by the almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone," the man said in a video shown by British media company ITV PLC, which said it got the clip from a passerby. Several witnesses told British media they heard cries of Allahu akbar—God is great—from the men.

The incident quickly resurrected the debate over how to confront terrorism in Britain, which suffered dozens of deaths in a series of coordinated suicide bombs on July 7, 2005. That incident prompted a huge revamp of the country's antiterror efforts, resulting in the thwarting of numerous plots in the years since.

In an indication of how seriously the government was treating the attack, Britain's top security and government officials met Wednesday evening to discuss the event. The government also said security at all London barracks had been increased. Authorities declined to comment on the videos.

Aerial scenes of a military training facility in London where police are investigating a gruesome attack that left one person dead and two injured.

"There are strong indications this is a terrorist incident," said British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was on a trip to Paris. "We have had these sorts of attacks before in our country and we never buckle in the face of them."

The attack adds a bloody, new chapter to the history of terrorism in London, which in recent years has ranged from the bombings in 2005 to the stabbing of a member of Parliament by a woman influenced by a radical Muslim cleric.

In the aftermath of the so-called 7/7 bombings, the U.K. made huge investments of time and money in upgrading its ability to detect, thwart and respond to terror threats. The British have staged, without incident, huge public events such as the 2012 London Olympics and the 2011 royal wedding, and counterterror police have successfully foiled some alleged terror plots.

The attacks could represent a strain of a more recent kind of terror event that is difficult, if not impossible, for authorities to defend against: individuals acting opportunistically on their own, outside of traditional terrorist networks.

Last year, the head of the U.K.'s domestic intelligence agency, known as MI5, said the biggest threat facing the U.K. would come from "lone actors attracted to extremism and violence."

Nothing is yet known publicly of the motives or background of Wednesday's alleged attackers, or whether the men are connected to any known terror groups.

Police said they responded Wednesday afternoon to reports of an incident close to the Woolwich army barracks involving a man being assaulted by two other men wielding a number of weapons including firearms. Police arrived at the scene to find the victim, who was later pronounced dead.

Authorities believe the dead man was a soldier, according to people familiar with the case. The government didn't immediately confirm the man's identity.

The two men believed to be the attackers were shot by police and arrested, but not yet charged. The two were taken to separate hospitals for treatment for injuries, according to police, who said they continued to investigate.

The man was being attacked with a machete-style knife, according to witness accounts cited widely in British media.

Mr. Cameron described the incident as a "sickening attack " and said he planned to return to London on Wednesday evening from a visit to Paris, where he was meeting with French President François Hollande.

Mr. Cameron had been scheduled to return to London on Thursday.

Home Secretary Theresa May chaired the nearly hourlong meeting of top security and government officials, known as Cobra. In a statement, she said the victim was "brutally murdered" and described it as "a sickening and barbaric attack."

Mr. Cameron was due to chair another meeting of top security officials Thursday morning.

"It is hard to comprehend the shocking and horrific scenes we have seen this afternoon on a busy street as Londoners went about their day as normal," said Bernard Hogan-Howe, commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police.

He added that police have launched a murder investigation which is being led by the Met's counterterror unit.

"We understand concern about the motivation and we will work tirelessly to uncover why this occurred and who was responsible. I understand people want answers, but I must stress we are in the early stages of investigations," Mr. Hogan-Howe said.

He added that extra officers were on duty Wednesday night in the area where the attack took place.

The U.K. has been the scene of a series of terrorist attacks, ranging from large-scale bombings to so-called lone-wolf style attacks.

The coordinated suicide bomb attacks in London in 2005 that killed 56 people and injured more than 700 were a watershed for the U.K. in its experience of terrorist attacks.

Plots Against Britain

Some of the incidents since 56 people were killed on July 7, 2005, on London's public transport system, in the '7/7' attacks:

August 2006 Police foil an alleged plan to use liquid explosives to blow up flights between the U.S. and the U.K.

2006 A London street vendor is sentenced to six years in prison for plotting to kill a decorated U.K. soldier.

January 2007 Authorities arrest eight suspects who allegedly plotted to behead a U.K. Muslim soldier while broadcasting the killing on the Internet.

July 2007 Police arrest four suspects after a flaming jeep crashes into a Scottish airport. The incident follows a foiled carbomb plot in central London.

2010 Roshonara Choudhry tells police she stabbed a former treasury minister in the stomach because he voted for Iraq war

2011 Several suspects are arrested in connection with an alleged plot to detonate knapsack bombs. In April 2013 the ringleader and two accomplices are sentenced to 10 to 18 years in jail.

The following year, in 2006, U.K. authorities interrupted a plot to bomb trans-Atlantic airliners using liquid explosives carried in bottles. Police made 23 arrests and at least nine individuals were convicted by U.K. courts in connection with the planned attack, which authorities have called one of the largest U.K.-based terrorists plots.

But there have also been a rash of smaller-scale incidents. In 2010, a 21-year-old woman was found guilty of attempting to murder a top politician in a knife attack after being influenced by a U.S.-born radical cleric connected to a Yemen-based affiliate of al Qaeda.

And, in 2011, a former British Airways software engineer was convicted of using his job to prepare terrorist acts and plotting with the same U.S.-born radical cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, to do so. Prosecutors accused the Bangladeshi national, who had been in the U.K. for several years, of a "chilling plan" to use his job at the airline to blow up a passenger plane.

Terrorism had been a major concern ahead of last year's summer Olympics hosted by the U.K., with authorities deploying tough security measures. A string of terror-related arrests were made in the run up to the games but there were no major incidents.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.